


Reason to Fear

by heixicanadragon



Category: Motorcity
Genre: Gen, Male Character of Color, fics become headcanons, headcanons become fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-07
Updated: 2013-10-07
Packaged: 2017-12-28 17:25:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/994598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heixicanadragon/pseuds/heixicanadragon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mike discovers the reason for Chuck's kitten phobia.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reason to Fear

It wasn’t the Deluxian AIs that had lured victims in with small paws and soft plush plastic bodies that left glowing scratches and bites… not counting the poison that they left behind, with no antidote but time for the poor soul that writhed in hallucinogenic contractions. (Not that Chuck could stand to go near them. No, he figured out their weak points from several miles away and informed the team in gasping whispers.)

It wasn’t the fiery hell-leopards genetically engineered to patrol Motorcity’s alleys during that hottest summer… even with the flames rippling off the kerosene-exhuming craters in their hides, their mouths dripping with gasoline. (Still, he didn’t leave his bedroom until that whole incendiary scenario was extinguished. No way in HECK. Not this Chuck.)

It wasn’t the holograms that Julie sent prowling around picking up information through all the streets of Detroit proper… even with their twitchy disappearing acts and unblinking yellow eyes which unnerved KaneCo soldiers and deserted streets and spun tales of haunted buildings. (He appreciated the reconnaissance they gathered, but… that was it.)

Surprisingly, it wasn’t the nasty old cat of Jacob’s in the kitchen that spit and growled and flung razor-sharp claws at your face if you so much looked at it… even when it accidentally fell into the grinder and made its way into a sea-weed broccoli guacamole that Jacob had been trying out for Mike’s birthday (who had been complaining about the lack of Mexican food in the city) and then Chuck found a WHISKER in his chip dip. (Everyone else ate at the pizza diner for the rest of the fall. Chuck was only turned off from Jacob’s food for about a week. A true accomplishment, the rest of the Burners had remarked.)

No, the true reason Chuck feared kittens, cats, hell-leopards, cat-robots, feline shapes and movements, and winced at the cat heads on Nine Lives remained a secret to the Burners until Mike Chilton bugged it out of him.

"So, what you’re saying is, a kitten came into your bed when you were a kid?" Mike’s voice was soft, but Chuck could hear a smile cracking around the edges, which made him squirm even more. Chuck was shuddering and swallowing back bile, but he had to explain.

"I-i-it didn’t just come into my b-bed—I mean, I don’t e-even know where it came f-f-from," he stopped, realizing his voice was rising embarrassingly high for being around Mike. "We… weren’t allowed to have p-pets."

Chuck peeked through his hair at his friend, who looked mostly confused. He didn’t see how he could explain the terror that he had felt, waking up to something sharp and small treading all over his chest inside his clothes, the movements foreign and stumbling. He didn’t want to think about what that cat had done next.

"So, what did it do?" 

"I-it. I-i-it… it c-c-crawled up my shirt and was just… y-know… WALKING on me and then—" Chuck couldn’t help flailing "—IT BIT ME. I STILL HAVE THE SCAR and then I panicked and and and I can’t be around cats because…" he slowed from the near-screaming and took a breath. "…because of… reasons."

He bowed his head but took a side glance. Mike was staring at him with a crumpled brow, and suddenly Chuck felt less nervous.

"Aw, buddy… c’mere." Mike reached for him and pulled him over on the bench. Gathered against Mike’s chest, Chuck’s heart started to relax and resume pumping at a normal pace, and his stomach began to unclench. He swallowed back the rest of the bile and sighed.

"It. It bit me and I guess… I guess I started screaming and my mom ran in and got the cat off me and I had to go to the hospital and get… get my left nipple reattached."

Chuck winced and shut his eyes, waiting for the response.

Mike started rubbing his back. ”Aw, Chuckles, how young were you? That’s pretty traumatic.”

"S-seven."

Mike set Chuck upright and pulled back a forelock of blond hair, sweeping it back over an ear. It fell forward, but not before Mike’s tender look.

"Man, I’m sorry that it happened to you. And, y-you know, that I wasn’t taking you seriously before. You’re a real trooper. When I think of all the… cat-related incidents that we’ve had in the past couple months alone. You’re. You’re good."

Chuck could only sputter, “Mikey…”

Mike stood up and grinned. “Ok, Chuckles, thanks for letting me know. I’ll try to take on any kittens for you that we meet.” He paused, his face wrinkling into a wider smile. “And, you know, thaaaat explains a lot about that scar. I was wondering what had happened with that.”

Chuck got up and tried to join the mood. “Y-yeeahahahah, that’s why I like my wetsuit for swimming, yeahahhaha, um, ‘cause I don’t want to have to explain it. It-it’s hard… to do that.”

"No problem. Now, ya hungry? We’ll make sure that Jacob doesn’t try to give us cat-stew or cat-sup or anything else like that."

Chuck smiled at the pun. He really could trust Mike with anything, with everything. He did.


End file.
